I think my BM is dwindling...

MissLMS · February 2010

After 9.5 months of BF'ing, I've gone from pumping 6-8 ounces at a time to barely pumping 3-4 ounces.

Kennedy is now eating finger foods three times a day, she takes two six-ounce bottles of BM while at the sitters and then I nurse her first thing in the morning after dinner and right before bed.

But lately she seems to have a declining interest in nursing. She doesn't nurse for long and would prefer just to drink a bottle and hold it herself. (she also doesn't like purees now because she is very much into feeding herself now.)

I wonder if she is starting to self-wean? It feels early. I still want to BF until she is a year. Maybe I could just mostly pump since she doesn't want to nurse?

Any suggestions?

I think I need to drink more water, too. But, part of me also thinks the decrease in supply is because she is drinking less and eating more. I already pump three times a day.

hamillm · February 2010

You have done a great job! I think you are right on with thinking the decrease is from her drinking less, etc. I would try mostly pumping and maybe still nursing at night/morning?

star21gazer · February 2010

Great job!

You are probably right about why it's happening. I'd just continue to pump and try to nurse her until she completely doesn't want to nurse anymore.

12106mrsmun · February 2010

Lydia, you've done an excellent job!! It does sound like she's trying to self-wean though. DD is kind of starting to do the same thing....since she nurses so infrequently anymore, I'm not even pumping.

lilcrablegs · February 2010

I would continue to nurse her as much as you can. You could face even more of a supply drop if you start pumping instead. Have you recently increased the amount of food she eats? Could your supply just be adjusting?

amandabrooke81 · February 2010

I ultimately made the decision to begin weaning @ 9 months but he wasn't fully weaned until like 10 months. I miss it and he's been weaned for 2 months! Part of my decision was based on M beginning to show signs self-weaning. He got to where he wouldn't nurse but for maybe 5 minutes at a time and was demanding to eat ridiculous amounts of food- 7 baby food jars a day! I personally was concerned about his weight too {a paranoid 1st time mommy} because even with the increased food intake, he dropped percentiles significantly at his 9 mo appointment.

My pump supply diminished to 1-2oz a day whereas before it was 6-8oz so there was definitely a decline in overall supply. I shared my story with LLL {hehe...I was a member since M was 2 mo} and the typical responses were shared "try and nurse him more frequently", "try and pump after each nursing session", "drink more water", "try Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle." Because at the very least I wanted to have enough pump supply so he could have BM through 1 year...

It's a Supply and Demand thing though. IMHO, Kennedy is now increasing solids so she has less of BM intake. Don't stress about it.

It certainly doesn't hurt to try and pump more in addition to what you're already doing. But if you want to continue to nurse her, try not to replace the nursing sessions with BM in a bottle. The pump will never stimulate your supply as effectively as K will {even if she only nurses for a little while}.

But CONGRATULATIONS for how long y'all have made it! That's wayyyyy cool!!!

sdkrlm · February 2010

you've done awesome. My milk dwindled around that time too - I started taking fenugreek to help it along a little

and I think around 10.5-11 months - I started introducing cows milk - like if I pumped 3 oz and she got a 4 oz bottle - I would just add one ounce of Organic Whole milk. She never had any issues with it adn the pedi approved it.

at one year, I stopped pumping altogether and she drank 100% whole milk in her sippy cup (we also weaned from the bottle around 11 months) and nursed in the morning and at night.

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